Because I love Him
by PrincessEmmylee
Summary: Hide x sick Kaneki pairing. Taking place after season 2. Hide was always there for Kaneki, offering him acceptance, protection and an unbreakable bond. Month after the raid, Kaneki finds himself in a difficult situation with little hope. But it may not be enough.
1. Chapter 1

this is my first time adding a story online. I hope you enjoy it.

Kaneki was well aware of the eyes watching his every move. The snow fell silently around him. He didn't care about the helicopters flying directly above him, as he moved through the silent streets, the harsh frigid wind brushed against him, stinging his face, freezing the tears that were sliding down his pale cheeks. He knew what was waiting for him at the end of his journey and still only one thing mattered to the ghoul.

He glanced down at the semi-conscious form in his arms, Hide's breathing was shallow, coming in short gasps and Kaneki knew his friend didn't have much time.  
"It's going to be all right, Hide." He promised softly. "We're going home now. Just hold on a little longer. I'm sorry you got pulled into this." A tear fell on the blond's cheek, causing Hide to groan almost inaudibly. Kaneki stopped in front of a group of CCG agents, who immediately drew their weapons.

Kaneki again turned his attention to his friend.

"You were always there, you're everything. My best friend, my protector, always shielding me from things when it got too hard. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to stop this. But the one thing I can give you, is this chance to live. I'll never be able to tell you how grateful I am for everything you've done for me. Please, just this one last favor, just...stay alive." Kaneki knelt down, pressing his lips softly to Hide's forehead. "I love you." He whispered, gently lowering Hide to the ground and standing to face the doves. He took a step back.

"Please, h-he doesn't have long. He needs to get to the hospital. " He called.

"I don't see him moving around, how do we know he's even still-"A silver haired man asked, his hands trembling from the cold. Kaneki could see that he had sustained minor injuries and couldn't blame him for doubting him.

"You wouldn't if he's not conscious, would you. You're just going to have to take that chance...please. There's been enough death tonight, don't you agree, this can be prevented, I-" Kaneki drew in a breath, holding back the remaining tears as best he could.

"I won't fight you. I-"

"How the hell do you expect us to trust anything you say, all you-"

"Take my life in exchange for saving Hide's." Kaneki offered. "Take him to the hospital, and do what you want with me." They stood puzzled by the proposition.

"Aizawa, take Ide and go get Nagachika." Amon ordered weakly from the stretcher as he was being lifted into an ambulance. "Radio the med evac chopper."

"But sir, Eye patch-"

"Go. Eye patch can be useful to us. He saved some of us tonight, we at least owe him that." The two men, started forward, clearly shaken by the night's events. the white haired ghoul watched as a tall, blond woman hurried to the radio and began the call for help. He took another step back as Ide and Aizawa followed Amon's direction. Kaneki watched as Hide was strapped to a stretcher, given oxygen and taken to his destination. As he watched the helicopter take off with his friend inside, he felt a sense of relief, knowing he would be taken care of. The ghoul found himself surrounded suddenly, The blond woman slowly approached. Behind her, Kaneki briefly caught Amon's eye as the doors to the vehicle were closing. Both offered the other a short nod in gratitude.

It had been more than three months since the raid, though Kaneki had lost track of the official amount of time that passed. Amon had arranged for him to be taken to a holding cell, there he remained with no word on Hide's condition, he spend his days alone. He stared up at the gray ceiling through blurred vision. He knew his fever had spiked again, his stomach churned and his body ached.

He couldn't recall ever feeling so ill,a chill passed through him. The last of his strength was rapidly draining from his body and a heavy fatigue set in. He pulled the thin blanket close to his chest with a soft moan. He rested his hands at his side, on the thin mattress. He curled up on his side, just in time for his stomach to begin the process of emptying metallic taste filled his mouth as the crimson liquid hit the stone floor below him, followed by painful spasms in his abdomen, his body trembling. He collapsed onto the bed, moaning softly in pain as the room began to disappear around him. The darkness beckoned him,leaving him powerless to fight it.

"Kaneki!" he heard his name faintly from the other side of the door in a panicked voice, but couldn't reply, the darkness was taking over now, and all he could do was allow it to take him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, Kaneki." The nearly inaudible voice was filled with worry, it seemed to be coming from a far distance. The ghoul found that he didn't possess the strength to force himself to fully wake. Instead he remained still, allowing himself to drift back into the quiet darkness that now surrounded him.

Kaneki had no idea how long he had slept, everything was silent as he struggled to wake, finally managing to open his eyes. His vision was blurred and his face felt uncomfortably hot. The room was dimly lit, creating a relaxed quickly realized that he was no longer in his cell. He attempted to force himself up, only for a hand to gently push him back, stopping the attempt.

"You probably shouldn't do that right now. You should take it easy for a while. " The familiar voice said, causing the ghoul to turn his attention to the person standing beside him.

"Hide?" Kaneki called out weakly, the blonde smiled.

"Yeah, it's been a while, too long." Hide pressed his hand to the ghoul's forehead and frowned. "your fever's still really high. How are you feeling?"

"It's good to know you're okay." Kaneki replied, Hide lowered himself onto the edge of the bed.

"I was getting really worried. You've been here for three days and this is the first time you've been up. I'm sorry it took me so long to find you. As soon as they let me out of the hospital, I started trying to find you. Touka and Hinami were great, they were listening for any information before that and I was pretty out of it for a while, so they came around to help me out with some things. They stopped to check on you last night."

Kaneki made a mental note to thank the girls the next time he saw them.

"Where-"

"This is my place. A few things changed since you left. I know it's not much, but it's definitely better than the cell you were in. You'll at least be more comfortable and I'm here if you need anything."

"I appreciate you bringing me here, but you really don't have to-"

"You risked your life more than once for me, did you really think I was going to just leave you?" Kaneki always knew that if given the opportunity,Hide would always find him. Hide was too good a friend to abandon him, there had never been any doubt.

"I guess... in a way, a part of me hoped you would. I've almost gotten you killed more times than you think. It's not good for you to be around me,I can't be the person I was before. I-I'm a monster." the ghoul said weakly, tears filled his eyes as he thought of the instances in which he had nearly lost his friend. Hide sighed heavily.

"You're way too hard on yourself. I heard about what you did. Touka said she saw you actually carrying me, Amon filled in the rest. Monsters don't do things like that."

"I almost-"

"It doesn't matter, I put myself in those situations. You can't keep blaming yourself for everything...I'm sorry, Kaneki."

"You didn't do anything-"

"Exactly. Maybe if I stepped in a little more, you wouldn't have had such a hard time with everything, if I had said something-" Kaneki hated to see the sadness replace Hide's usual cheerful attitude,

"You can't protect me from everything.I have-" A strong wave of nausea hit him suddenly, interrupting the conversation.

"You okay?" Kaneki couldn't reply, fearing that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from becoming ill. Hide seemed to understand, positioning the small wastebasket beside the bed and helping the ghoul to turn on his side.

"it's all right."Hide soothed as he watched his friend vomit the same substance he had seen three days before. He couldn't help noticing that the act itself seemed painful. After several minutes, Kaneki stopped, his body trembling, he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

Hide reached over to the night stand, taking hold of a small towel, briefly soaking it a bowl of water. He squeezed it out before softly stroking his friend's face with it.

"S-sorry." Kaneki said quietly. Hide offered a reassuring smile.

"It happens. That sounds really painful, how long have you been doing this?"

"I-I don't know."

"I need you to talk to me. I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

" Feels like a while. I get these pains and-I-I'm pretty sure I'm d-dying."

"You're not dying, you're just sick. I'm not going to let you die." Hide pulled the blanket over his friend.

"You know it doesn't-"

"Get some rest,We'll have time to talk later, you're probably exhausted. I'll take care of everything."

"You always do." Kaneki allowed his eyes to close once more.

"And I always will." Hide replied, he stood from the bed, grabbing the bag from the wastebasket, tying it up before making his way to the door to throw it out.

Hide sighed heavily as he lifted the trashcan lid and tossed the object inside.

"Hey, Hide." Touka greeted, shifting the bags in her hand, Hinami smiled from beside the older ghoul.

"Hey." The human replied, taking the bags from the girls. "Thanks for going down there, I know it was a weird request but it really helps. Do you guys want to come in?"

"Sure, we can stay a bit." Hide led the girls into the house, closing the door behind them. The trio made their way to the living room. Touka and Hinami lowered themselves onto the sofa, Hide placed the bags on the floor.

"How's Kaneki?"

"Not great. He was awake a few minutes ago-"

"But that's a good sign, isn't it?"Hinami asked.

"Yeah, I guess it's an improvement. He...he did it again. "the younger ghoul bowed her head. "He's really weak and it hurts him. His fever's still up there and I'm worried."

"You have every reason to worry, this shouldn't be happening."

"I don't know how to help him, Touka." the dark haired ghoul looked away.

"Sometimes...there's nothing to do. I know it's not what you want to hear, Hide. I don't know of anything that causes these symptoms and if he's losing as much blood as you've described to me that first day, I just don't see any way to-"

"Don't say that. I'm not going to let him die, there has to be something. I can't just give up on my best friend. I just got him back."Hide crossed his arms over his chest. "He doesn't deserve this. " Hinami stood up, crossing the short distance to Hide, pulling him into a hug.

"You're right, I'm sure we can at least gather some information, maybe someone can help. You just keep looking after him and leave the rest to us."

"I know I'm asking a lot from you two, and I'm sorry. I'll owe you guys for the rest of my life, I just-"

"It's okay. He would do the same for us." the brown haired ghoul said softly, releasing Hide. Neither Hinami or Touka knew quite where to start, but their quest for answers would be a long and difficult one, beginning the following morning.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaneki opened his yes to find himself surrounded by pillows. A soft, painful moan escaped him.

"You okay?" Hide asked.

"I-I don't know. I feel so weak, I've never felt this bad. Where did-" Hide smiled sadly.

"Remember when you had just moved out on your own, the flu was going around like crazy, everyone was getting it. People were ending up in the hospital...After you got sick, I didn't hear from you for a few days and I stopped by to make sure you were okay. You had pillows everywhere, you said it was easier for you to find a comfortable way to sleep and if you moved around, you'd always have one close to you. You did that all the time when you weren't feeling good. I figured they might help. I got a few other things too." Hide moved to the bedside table where he had set up a CD player, he picked up a small bag and opened it, removing the item inside.

"Did you know Sen Takatsuki has audio books out, I thought they might be a good distraction. I got t he last one and the newest one. I have a heating pad if you want to try that for pain. "Hide placed the objects on the table.

"You don't have to do all this. You already-"

"What's a best friend for if not looking out for each other?"the blond pointed out.

"You're always doing that for me. I don't want you to feel like you have to-"

"Kaneki, it's not a big deal for me to-"

"It is for me. There's so many other things you could be doing, you wanted to be a musician when we were kids, you can do that. I can't tell you how much all this means to me, all the times through the years you dropped everything to be there for me. You try so hard to keep me going and all I ever do is put you in danger. I almost got you killed and here you are, bringing me pillows and getting audio books, trying to make me feel better. You've always done this. You don't even bring up everything I've done to you. I still don't know how or why you even brought me here. Why do you put yourself through it, Hide, I'm not worth it."hide sighed.

"First time I saw you, I had this feeling, I still don't know if I can explain what it was. You were reading a book in class, so you probably didn't notice that I'd been glancing at you here and there. It was the first time I can remember feeling it. I had to know you. I didn't know at the time how important you be to my life. All I knew was that I wanted to be close to you. I was actually scared when I came over to you outside. Everyone else thought I was this annoying kid and maybe they were right, I was afraid you'd see me the same way. It hurt that our class felt that way, but you...anyway, that feeling's never gone away, it only gets stronger. I never thought I'd actually tell you this. You are the one person I don't know what I'd do without. When you left, knowing you were still out there somewhere was the thought that kept me going." Hide chuckled nervously. "I haven't felt like this since that first day."

"Hide-"

"You said about me dropping everything for you, but that's not right, you are my everything, you always have been. Yes, I want you to be comfortable, I want to be beside you, to look after you through sickness, through life. Why do I do it, well, I guess it's because...I love you and you've always been precious to me. I should be apologizing to you."Kaneki was stunned by the confession.

"For what?" The ghoul asked weakly, trying his best to ignore the pain.

"Rize. When she came over to the table, I had this feeling that something wasn't right. I didn't say anything because I actually thought it was me being jealous. I didn't want to stop you from being happy and as long as I got to be close to you in some way, I- this whole thing was my fault. I'm so sorry, Kaneki. To make it all that much worse, I almost called you at the last second. I had my phone out and everything. I was going to ask you to come hang out at my place instead. But then I really thought about it and how excited you were about the whole thing and I couldn't take that from you." To Hide's surprise, a faint smile began to appear on the ill ghoul's face.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"I know you better than that, what's so funny?" the human pressed.

"You being jealous of Rize." Hide chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess it was really stupid. But in that moment, she had everything I wanted and could never have. You were interested-I don't know how you feel about hearing me say all this, I know you're not feeling good and I just threw a lot of things at you...If I had called you that night, would you have skipped your date?"

"Are you sure you want me to answer that?"

"I think I know, but-"

"I'd choose you every time. You didn't make me go, this isn't your fault at all. No one will ever know me like you do and there's no one else I'd rather be with...You're my home, Hide and I love you too, so much." Hide leaned down, kissing the top of the ghoul's head.

"Then will you promise me something?"

"That depends on what it is."

"Never leave me again, stay here with me." Kaneki reached out, placing his hand on his friend's lightly.

"If this is what you really want, I'll stay." The blond affectionately stroked the ghoul's hair with his free hand, Kaneki had little time to enjoy the gesture, as the strong wave of pain traveled through his body, triggering more spasms. Kaneki tightened his grip on Hide's hand.

"What can I do?"

"I don't know, everything hurts-" Hide nodded. He grabbed the heating pad, turning the device on low.

"I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but I need you to try to relax, I'm going to give you this, we shouldn't turn it up since your fever's so high, but if it's not too uncomfortable, it'll be all right for a few minutes." Hide said, offering the device to his friend and setting a CD in his player, he pressed the play button, moving back to the bed.

Hide pulled himself onto the bed, next to Kaneki, resting his head on the pillow, allowing their foreheads to touch,one hand finding its way to the heating pad, resting on the ghoul's abdomen and the other finding it's way back to the soft white hair.

"I know this really sucks, but it's going to be okay."

"I don't know if I can-"

"You're stronger than you think, you got this and I've got you. We'll get you through this. Try to rest now. Touka and Hinami are out there trying to get us some answers."

"There may not be any answers to find. I told you, I'm-"

"No. I'm not letting you out of your promise that easy."

"But you can't expect-"

"You can't give up. I told you, we'll figure it out,We-" The conversation was cut short by Hide's cell phone. Hide pulled it from his pocket. "Sorry, I just want to make sure it's not Touka or Himani." He said continuing to stroke Kaneki's hair, He checked the display and sighed heavily. Work

Hide rejected the call and tossed the device down on the bed. There were only two people from the CCG that would call him, following the raid, only one and he was in no hurry to talk to them at the moment.

"If you have to go-"Kaneki began.

"No. I'll call back later, you're more important. Just rest." Hide settled back onto the bed with Kaneki, offering him all his attention.

"You don't have to-"

"I finally have you back, I'm not going anywhere. Will you give me this chance, please?"

"What chance?"

"To not just make you better, but...can we have a chance?"

"If you really want-"

"I really do, now and forever." Kaneki shifted closer to his friend, allowing Hide to wrap his arms around him.

Amon sat back in his chair, turning his attention to the files in front of him. He selected a folder labeled "Eye patch" and began reading the information inside. A knock on his office door soon interrupted his task. He looked up from the papers to find Akira entering , carrying two cups, closing the door behind her.

"I thought you could use this." She said, offering the coffee to Amon and taking a sip of her own. "Any luck reaching him?"

"No."

"It's been a few day since we heard from him,do you think Eye patch could have-" She allowed her voice to trail off. Amon shook his head.

" He isn't going hurt him, Nagachika is as safe as he'll ever be with Eye Patch. You don't offer your life to save someone only to kill them yourself." He pointed out.

"Would he have taken his friend and-"

"No. If I had to judge on the brief encounter from the other day, those two aren't going anywhere. Eye Patch wouldn't make it very far if they did. He's different from the other ghouls out there, we'll need to learn as much as we can. The hang up is going to be that Nagachika is just as protective of him and while all this is going on, we won't get near him. "

"You can't really blame them, it's hard to really know who you can trust in the world. What's your plan?" Amon sighed heavily.

"Right now, and until we find out what's wrong with him, there isn't one. Like I said, he's not going to do anything, even if he wasn't sick. I'm going to to let Nagachika handle things and we'll go from there. He'll know more of what to do for him. It's a waiting game now...we wait and see if he gets through this."

"If he doesn't?"

"I don't know, only time will tell."


	4. Chapter 4

Hide woke to the soft buzzing from his phone which lay at his side. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep. Kaneki slept curled up on his side facing Hide. The blond human pressed his lips to the ghoul's forehead, taking note of the rising temperature. He brushed back a few strands of hair from Kaneki's face.

"I need you to start feeling better." He said softly,not wanting to wake him. He turned his attention to his phone, lifting it off the mattress and after clicking the answer button, held the device to his ear.

"Hey," He greeted quietly. "Did you guys find anything?"

"We've been all over the ward, no one's been able to tell us anything new." Touka replied. "I'm running out of people to ask. I'm sorry, Hide." Hide's heart dropped into his stomach.

"We have to be missing something. Things like this don't just happen for no reason."

"That kind of leads us with another possibility, and the only one I can think of right now...maybe he's not sick-"

"Have you seen him, I'd call that sick, He's got a fever and the-"

"What I mean is, how sure are you that it's not something that was done to him, it's the only other possibility I can come up with. Have you talked to him about what went on while he was there?"

"We haven't really talked about what went on there. How would they even do something like this?"Hide glanced over at the sleeping ghoul.

"I don't know, talk to him. He might be able to tell you something. I honestly don't know what to tell you. Give it some thought at least, we'll try to cover all the bases." Hide leaned back onto his pillow.

"It's worth asking him, I just don't think Amon would do something like this. When I talked to him about Kaneki it seemed like there was some type of respect between them. He's not the type of person to-"

"But he wouldn't have been the only one to have access to the room, would he?"Touka questioned.

"No, probably not. I'll have to give him a call. Thanks Touka, I really appreciate you and Hinami doing all this, I know he does too."

"Yeah,..just take care of him, Hinami's really having a tough time with this. we'll try to come see him again soon."

"He'll like that, you guys mean a lot to him."

"Yeah, well, I'll let you get back to looking after him, I just wanted to throw that out there, maybe you'll have better luck." Touka ended the call. The blond glanced down at the display on his phone.

"Seven...He should still be in his office." Hide thought out loud to himself. scrolled through his phone until he came to the investigator's number. Kaneki tossed weakly beside him. Hide watched as he raised a shaky hand to his ear, beginning to claw at it, his body twitching.

"Hey." Hide called gently grabbing Kaneki's wrist, slowly pulling it away from the ghoul's head. "You're okay." he released his hand only for his friend to repeat the action a second time.

"Kaneki." Hide called.

"My head..." Kaneki said. "It's-"

"You're okay. I need you to wake up." Hide said, this time a bit louder. Again the ghoul began to claw in a frantic motion, this time causing a small trail of crimson to appear. Hide's heart was breaking for him. He wondered what Kaneki was dreaming. At a loss, he gently rested his own hand over the ear. This time when Kaneki raised his hand, he seemed to notice the change and took hold of Hide.

"n-ninety-three. Eighty-six" He murmured in his sleep.

"Kaneki!" Hide shouted, the ghoul woke with a start, his hand still clasped on Hide's.

"H-Hide?"

"It's okay, I'm here." The human soothed. "What were you dreaming about, you kind of freaked out a little."

"It wasn't-"

"Tell me."Kaneki remained silent loosening his grip on his friend's hand. After a moment, Hide sighed.

"okay, you don't have to, I wish you would so I could help you. Whatever that was, I want you to know that I'm right here and I'm not going to let anything hurt you ever again." He pressed his lips to the soft white hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hurt y-"

"No. you were scratching at your ear, I was worried you might-"

"Thank you." Kaneki whispered much to Hide's confusion.

"For what?" Kaneki recalled his nightmare, it was just like before and although the dreams were rare, they always had the same effect. This time however, the ending had changed. _The ghoul found found himself tied to the chair, blindfolded, his heart racing. He grasped the arms of the chair with his newly regenerated fingers. He could feel his tormentor approaching, the sound of the cruel words, the sudden sensation of the legs on his skin. He screamed, anticipating the feeling of the beast crawling inside his head. _

_"What is seven from one hundred?" the voice called out. _

_"Stop!" Kaneki cried out. "I don't kn-" the creature was touching his ear now, he could feel its __pincers ready to force its way inside. _

_"Say it!" The voice demanded. _

_"n-ninety-three." He answered in a shaky voice. _

_"Keep going."_

_"Eighty-six." The masked man laughed._

_"Good. I think I'll let my little friend here have some fun, he'll be right at home."_

_"Please, I-" A set of hands reached out, one resting on each ear._

_""It's okay now." Hide's voice called softly. "I found you and I'm going to take you home."_

_"What about-" Kaneki began, fearing for his friend's safety. Hide lifted the blindfold, allowing him to see and he found that he could move. The room was empty._

_"What happened to the-"_

_"You're okay now."Hide soothed._

_"My head..it-" Hide took hold of him, pulling him to his feet._

_"Never again." The blond vowed. "I won't let it happen. I got you. Come on, let's go home."_

"Hey, you okay, you're spacing out." Hide's voice pulled him back into awareness. "Your fever must be worse than I thought, What were you thanking me for exactly?"

"For being you." the white haired ghoul replied. "for being my safe place and loving me like you do."

"It's kind of hard not to, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I wish I'd done more for you."

"You've done more than most people would have. If I do get better-"

"You will. I'm not going to stop until we figure this out, but I need you to help me. I want you to think about the cell you were in."

"What about it?"

"Did you ever have visitors?"Hide asked, fixing the blanket around Kaneki.

"Amon came to talk to me a couple of times, but mostly I don't think so."

"You don't think so, like you don't remember or-"

"I don't know. I slept a lot during the day sometimes. I don't know if anyone came by or not." Hide nodded.

"Was that before or after you started feeling sick?"

"I'm not sure, I've been feeling sick for a while, some of it's a little fuzzy but I'm pretty sure some of that was because I had a fever, I was so..drained most of the time."

"Did you eat anything while you were there?"

"No. I was never really hungry. Like I said, I wasn't feeling good. I- I'm so tired. "

"OKay. You get some rest, I have to make a phone call, it'll be real quick, Do you think you'll be okay for a minute while I'm out of the room?"

"Yeah." Hide slid out of bed, grabbing his phone and kissing Kaneki once more.

"I'll just be in the hall out there, if you need anything, you call me, I love you."

"Love you too."Kaneki replied, giving into the heavy fatigue that weighed on him.

Hide made his way out of the room, glancing down at the phone in his hand. He scrolled through his contacts until he came to the investigator's name once again. He pressed the button and held it up to his ear, listening to the loud, steady ringing.

"Nagachika, I've been trying to reach-" the voice answered at last.

"Amon," Hide interjected. "We might have a problem."


	5. Chapter 5

"You'll have to explain this..problem to me."Amon said. "I'm assuming it has something to do with Eye patch?"

"I need you to tell me about what went on while you had Kaneki in that room. " Hide replied. "I need to know everything. It's important."

"I don't know exactly what you're expecting me to say."

"When I called you, after I go out of the hospital, you promised me he was safe. It's-"

"And I told you the truth, He was in my custody and I put him in that holding cell, I took a big risk taking him there-"

"And I'm grateful for that. I appreciate you working with me to make sure he was okay and that you let me bring him home, Kaneki's important to me. Right now I don't know what's happening to him so I have to look into all the possibilities. Nothing is adding up and he's getting worse. I know I asked a lot from you, but-"

"That's an understatement. You were in my office or on the phone with me just about daily. You were persistent, I'll give you that. I don't think I've ever heard anything like the speech you gave me the day I took you to see him."

"You're getting off the subject. I don't know if he has much time to wait. Did you give him anything or authorize someone else to do it, were there any visitors that might have-"

"No. I didn't give him anything, I don't know what you're suggesting, but I showed you all the records we have on him, Anything that would have been taken in there would've been documented. Not many people were in there with him and I was the only one that went inside the room when we spoke."

"It's a secure facility, there were cameras, do you have access to the security videos?" Amon sighed heavily.

"I wouldn't be able to get them right away, there's a process, permission from my superiors..it'll take time."

"We don't have much. can you just ask around or something, I don't think you personally did anything to hurt him,like I said, I just have to look into everything I can. I can't just give up on him. Please?" Hide pleaded. "Please just help me with this." Amon couldn't ignore the pain in the younger man's voice.

"I can't make any promises. I'll see what I can come up with. I'll call you if I find anything, but I'm still not sure what I'm looking for."

"Anything, I just need to know, I talked to him earlier and he said he slept a lot there but couldn't tell me if it was before he was sick or kind of worries me too. He doesn't seem to be able to say much about the cell. Did he ever mention anything to you?"

"No. There were a couple of instances during our visits that he seemed a little different, but at the time he was concerned. I didn't think anything of it."

"What do you mean different?"

"He couldn't focus on the conversation, he looked like he was in a daze. He was worried about you, the very first thing he'd ask me was if I'd heard from you and if you were okay. This was before you contacted me so I had no information to offer. All things considered, I don't know if that's related to what's happening now. I'd like to stop by and talk to you both about something. I'll wait for him to feel a little better, but it's something we could use some help with."

"First I need to know what happened, Whatever it is, it'll have to wait until he's completely over it. I'm not going to put him in a situation that-"

"I know. I'll see what I can find."

"Thanks again, for everything." Amon ended the call, remaining at his desk for a moment longer before making his way to the hall. He continued down the long corridor until he came to the conference room and knocked softly on the door. He could hear the muffled voices from within the meeting. It didn't take long for Akira to pull open the door and step out to greet him.

"Did you hear anything from-"

"Yeah, I just got off the phone. Eye Patch isn't doing too good.I mentioned talking to them about our project but like I said, we're not getting near him right now. I need your help. Nagachika wants us to look into what went on while Eye Patch was with us. I need to cut through the red tape, is there any way you can talk to-"

"What does he expect to find?"

"Anything suspicious. he says he's covering the bases. If we want this to work, they need to know they can trust us and we need Eye Patch alive." the blonde woman nodded.

"I'll be seeing Shiro later today, I'll see what I can do. I'll meet you back in your office before I leave for the day and give you an update."

"I'd appreciate it." The door opened suddenly.

"Ms. Mado, We need you." The young woman called.

"I'll be there in a second, Ai."Akira sighed, watching her disappear into the room once again.

"I'll let you get back in there, if you need any-"

"I'll be fine, I'm tougher than I look, you should know that by now." She said, pulling open the door and rejoining the group.

Hide grabbed the bottle of water from the fridge, taking it back to the bedroom and making himself comfortable at Kaneki's side. The white haired ghoul lay asleep curled up on his side, facing Hide. It had been difficult for Kaneki to stay asleep, it wasn't uncommon for the pain to wake him. Hide plugged his headphones into his phone, but set the device aside.

"You know what one of the hardest things about this is," He said quietly. "knowing you're sick and not being able to take it from you. If I could've taken all of this and given you a better life-When we were kids and I saw how your family was, and how unhappy you were, I used to think that one day I'd show up and I'd take your hand and we'd just go. I didn't know where we'd go, all I knew was that I'd take care of you and maybe together we'd make something better for you. I wanted to give you everything I could, you deserve the world, Kaneki. I can't give it to you obviously, but-"

"You did. Things would've been a lot worse if you weren't there. You've always taken care of me and protected me as much as you could. I don't think you understand the impact you've had on my life." The ghoul said weakly, not bothering to open his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't-"

"It's all right." Hide soothed. "The important thing is that you're here with me. That's all I've wanted. Remember bringing up that I wanted to be a musician?"

"Yeah."

"I thought that if I could get into music I'd be able to get you away from here, anywhere you wanted to go. I'd be able to tell you I love you and you'd just come with me."

"I would have."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's not like I would've had anything to keep me here. You're the only person that would've noticed I was gone and we'd be together." Kaneki's body tensed as the pain worsened, traveling through him.

"Do you want the heating pad?" Hide asked Kaneki nodded, at last allowing himself to meet Hide's gaze. The blond reached over to the bedside table, taking hold of the object and turning it on to the lowest setting. He handed it to Kaneki.

"When your fever starts coming down, you'll be able to turn it up a little." Hide smiled faintly, carefully pulling the ghoul close to him.

"Yo know, you really are beautiful, Kaneki."

"If that's what you think, you should invest in some glasses." The ghoul replied.

"I'm serious, You-"

"So am I. Look at me, I'm-"

"I am looking at you, and I see the most beautiful person in the world."

"I don't know how you can say things like that. I probably look as bad as I feel or worse, I'm such a mess."

"Then you're the most beautiful mess I've ever seen."

"Hide." Hide nuzzled his friend lovingly, feeling him relax in his arms, detracted by the affection.

"I waited a long time to hold you like this, I might not let go." he teased.

"Don't" Kaneki replied.

"Not even for a second." Hide promised, kissing the ghoul's head. Kaneki hoped Hide meant it.


	6. Chapter 6

Akira stepped inside the building,making her way through the nearly deserted hallway. The clicking of her shoes on the hard tile floor echoed around her. She soon found herself at the elevators and pressed the downward pointing arrow. She watched the display above the door count down to her floor. When the door opened, she stepped inside, pressing the button for the second floor.

To her dismay, the soft 'cheery' music began to play as the elevator car inched its way to where it was going. Akira had never been a fan of it.

"Come on." She whispered impatiently to the empty car. When at last the doors opened, she stepped out into the corridor. She glanced down at the paper in her hand.

"Twenty three.." She read out loud, continuing to the end of the hall. She turned toward the door, raising a hand and knocked.

"That you, Akira?" A male voice called out from the other side.

"It's me." she replied. The door opened almost instantly, an older man with silver hair stood in front of her. He greeted her with a smile.

"Akira, it's good to see you again, please, come in and have a seat." He stepped aside, allowing her to enter and gestured to the chair that had been placed in front of the mahogany desk.

Shiro closed the door behind them and made his way to the other side of the desk. Akira lowered herself into her own chair.

"I'll get right to business, I know how much you hate wasting time." The man pulled open the drawer, removing a file folder and offering it to the woman.

"That's the weekly report from the facility. Everything's in order. I looked it over myself this time." Shiro shook his head.

"I see so much of your father in you. He would be so proud if he could see you now."Akira looked away, holding the file close to her.

"I have my doubts." She was the reason she wasn't fond of her visits with Shiro. The man had been a friend of her father and often brought up memories of the past, insisting that he would be proud, never knowing about the work she was currently involved in.

"You shouldn't, Kureo used to talk about you all the time, you were the one thing that meant the most to him. I know he didn't seem like the type to-"

"Actually, Shiro, I have a favor to ask you." Akira interrupted.

"Of course, what can I do?"

"You have access to the security camera footage for the holding cells on block c don't you?"

"Yes. I can see everything from the monitors in the security room. But you know I can't just hand it over to you. That kind of access requires going through the higher ups. I'm sorry but-"

"I realize it's asking a lot, I normally wouldn't ask at all. I have a time sensitive situation and that video could very well be the difference between life and death."The man frowned.

"What's going on, Akira?"He asked seriously. "Are you mixed up in some kind of-"

"No. A few months ago, Investigator Amon gave an order for a ghoul to be brought here and placed in a holding cell. I need all the videos you have of that area of and any records of visitation." Shiro sat back against his chair, folding his arms.

"Eyepatch?" he asked.

"Yes." She replied shortly.

"You knew I couldn't just hand over the footage, why not go through the procedure?"

"Like I said, this is time sensitive. He may not live long enough for the paperwork to clear. We can't have him dying before we get all the information we're expecting to get from him. We're fairly sure he knows more than he's letting on and that can be very valuable to us." Shiro sighed heavily. He turned his attention to his computer. Akira waited quietly, curious as to what the man was up to. After another moment, he pulled open a second drawer, this time producing a manila folder and placed it on his desk. He stood from his chair.

"We're a little under staffed today, so I'm also security for the day. I'm sorry to interrupt the visit but you'll have to excuse me for a bit." He made his way around the desk, stopping at the door.

"Hey, you're good with computers right?" He asked.

"I know enough to get by." The young woman replied.

"You mind doing me a favor while I'm doing rounds?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Damn thing's all screwed up. I think you should take a look, you'd probably figure it out. All I know is, it better not happen again." He said before disappearing into the hall and closing the door behind him.

Akira took the opportunity to take control of the computer, finding the files already open for her. She scanned the options and rummaged through her purse pulling out three discs and began copying the files.. She would go through them later with Amon.

Hinami sat quietly in the corner of the room, her gaze fell on the white haired ghoul lying in the bed on his side. Hide kneeled at his bedside,lovingly stroking Kaneki's hair with one hand and wiping his friend's face with a cool cloth.

"Just can't catch a break, can you?"Hide kissed Kaneki's head lovingly.

"Guess not." the ghoul replied weakly, "Sorry about your towels."His gray eyes fell on the trashbag near the bed.

"Hey, don't worry about those, I can replace them later. Just rest, It's going to be okay."Kaneki could see the sadness and worry in Hide's eyes. "Can you take some water?"

" won't stay down."A sharp pain tore through the ghoul's abdomen. Kaneki squeezed his eyes closed, using the little energy he had to curl into a ball.

"What's going on, I need you to talk to me." Kaneki didn't reply, his body tensing.

"Hinami, let's go sit in the living room." Touka suggested, putting an arm around her.

"But I want to know what's happening to Onii-chan."

"I know, but we can't do much right now."Hinami remained still, tears filling her eyes.

"Come on, Kaneki. I know this had for you, but I really need you to-"

"F-feels like something's tearing me apart inside, I can't-" Hide held the ghoul close. He would've given anything to stop Kaneki's illness.

"I'm so sorry. I'll think of something, I promise you I'll do whatever I can to make this better. Just hang in there okay, we will figure this out."Hide promised.

"P-please j-just let me die,I c-can't take this sickness anymore." Tears fell from the ghoul's eyes as he looked deeply into Hide's.

"Y-You can't ask me for something like that. I can't-" Hide drew in a breath. "Will you try something for me?"

"I-"

"Please, Kaneki, just one more thing, okay?"Hide pleaded. Kaneki nodded.

"Give me one second, just try to be still." Hide kissed the ghoul's head and hurried from the room.

"Why is Onii-chan in so much pain?" Hinami sobbed. Touka pulled her close.

"I don't know. I don't know if we ever will."The younger ghoul stared up at Touka.

"Hide's going to fix him, right. What's he going to do?"Touka shook her head, at a loss for what to say to her. When Hide reappeared, he was carrying a black coffee cup, a white bandage was now wrapped around his hand. He placed the object on the night stand and climbed onto the bed.

"Hey, you trust me right?" Kaneki nodded.

"I have something I want you to try. I know you're feeling pretty weak right now, so I'm going to help you sit up,okay?" Kaneki whimpered in pain, Hide's heart shattered. He gently pulled Kaneki into his arms, lifting him up and allowing him to rest his head against his chest while supporting him with his arm. He reached over, taking hold of the cup.

"I know it hurts and you're sick, but I want you to drink this." Hide held the cup to his friend's lips, tilting it carefully. Kaneki attempted to pull away, only for the blond to hold him still.

"Don't." Hide said softly. "Just trust me."Realizing he had neither the physical strength nor the will to refuse the offering, Kaneki relented. He found the cooler, Metallic liquid seemed to have a soothing effect. He began to feel exhausted immediately after emptying the container. Hide kissed his head once more, returning the cup to the night stand.

"Just rest now."The human soothed.

"H-Hide-"Kaneki began.

"I'll be right here when you wake up. All you need to do right now is close your beautiful eyes and sleep. I don't know how long it'll last and I really need you to take it easy now, you've been through a lot. This isn't something I can give you much of, I don't want to hurt you..but I can't watch you suffer like that and just sit here. I love you so much, Kaneki." When at last the ghoul was asleep, Hide remained still, holding his love close to him.

"What did you give him?"Touka asked quietly, hoping not to disturb the ill ghoul.

"A mixture of things. Blood and water with some of the pain meds I have left from when I came home from the hospital.I know there are some medicines that are safe in small amounts, but he can't take it like I can. Just a little once in a while when he really can't take the pain-"

"How do you know about that?" The dark haired ghoul asked. "I wasn't going to bring it up because I wasn't sure how it would-" Hide smiled sadly.

"I don't know much about it, but I do have some knowledge. There are things about me that not even Kaneki knows. Right now, the important thing is that he's able to rest completely. Hopefully he gets a good break." Hide glanced down at Kaneki's pale face, brushing back a few strands of hair from his eyes. With no intention of releasing his friend, Hide carefully settled back on the bed, shifting off of his legs,softly resting his chin on Kaneki's head. "I just wish I could do something more."


	7. Chapter 7

Hide lay on his side facing his friend, stroking Kaneki's hair. The mixture he had offered, allowed the ghoul to sleep peacefully through the night and most of the morning. Since opening his eyes that day, Kaneki seemed different, even his tone had changed. He seemed almost distant, seemingly unaware of Hide's presence at times, as if in a trance.

"please. "Kaneki pleaded softly. "Please Hide, I-I'm so tired."

"I know, but I'll miss you if you sleep."Hide did his best to fight back tears. "Hinami and Touka will too. Please don't, there's so much for the two of us to do together, you'll have time to sleep later."

" It will be better for everyone,I'll only ever be a monster, I can't hurt you anymore if I-"

"You didn't hurt me, if you're talking about the raid-"

"Alley-s-shouldn't be here…."Kaneki's eyes began to close. "No place,shouldn't have-" Hide sighed, trying to understand the ghoul.

"What do you mean, are you talking about Nishio,we shouldn't have been there? Kaneki, that wasn't-"

"I tried,shouldn't be here. My home,I-I want-"

"You are home, Kaneki. You belong right here with me. I don't understand what's happening, but I've got you and I'm going to fix this, like I promised."

"N-no more pain..please?"

"I promise, whatever I need to do, I'll make it stop.I love you."several tears fell from Kaneki's eyes before he finally closed them.

"It has to be some kind of reaction to the meds, right?"Hide asked, not bothering to wipe away his own.

"I don't think so. The meds take a while to get out of his system, but they wouldn't do this. I think it's his fever and..it's very likely he's dying. Sometimes when you're sick, the fever makes it hard to think clearly, but the way he's acting, I think maybe he's just waiting."

"If he was, what's to stop him from letting go, I think he just-"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think it's you. He's waiting for you to tell him it's okay. Sometimes you just need to know that the one you love is going to be okay before you go.I've seen it happen."

"I don't know if I can tell him that. He's been through so much,things no one ever should. He tried so hard to carry that pain on his own and I always did the best I could to make it hurt a little less but I don't know how to fix this. It's my fault, I shouldn't have let him go. Even if I was wrong, the worst case would've been that he'd hate me for taking away his chance but if it meant that he didn't have to go through all this and he'd be safe, I'd do it. The whole time he was talking, he never once actually looked at me, it was like he was looking at something-"

"It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't realize you were even there, just seems so out of it., he could've been just rambling. At least he doesn't seem to be in pain right now, you've given him that much."

"I can't just sit here and let him go through it. "

"You didn't. "Touka replied. "There's only one thing left now, you're going to have to realize you can't make everything okay. I know you want to but it's not how life works."

"I still feel like there's something more. I can't let him give up like this, not until I'm sure." Touka sighed heavily, returning to Hinami. The younger ghoul watched through sad eyes.

"Touka, why is Hide so upset that Onii-chan wants to sleep?" She asked.

"Because he's using 'tired' as a way to tell Hide he's too 's a gentle way of saying he's had enough."

"You don't think he'll really leave us, do you?"

"I don't know what else to tell you, Hinami. He's probably not going to be here much longer. I'm sorry."

"But we love Onii-chan and-"

"Sometimes love isn't enough."Touka placed an arm around the girl. In truth, she too was upset, Kaneki had become a dear friend to her, a second brother perhaps and it was shattering her heart to know what was to come.

Amon pushed open the conference room door to find Akira already waiting, her eyes scanning the computer screen. He sat down next to her, his own eyes wandering to the surveillance footage on the screen.

"Did you find anything?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, I think I've figured out when it started, judging by the strange behavior you described. The first two weeks he seems fine, but by the third he seems to notice something off camera." Akira turned the screen allowing Amon a better view and pressed enter.

Kaneki lay on his side on his bed seemingly deep in thought. Amon watched as he lay still for several minutes before suddenly lifting his head and turning toward the door. The ghoul sat up, his eyes fixed on the door before laying back down.

"He does that for the next three days."Akira said.

"He's definitely seeing something, if we knew what it was maybe it could be useful."

"It doesn't show up on camera, not inside or outside the cell. But days later, whatever it is seems to stop and he turns his attention to an air vent near the camera. He wakes up and he's watching something. That's when this happens, watch the date and time down here." Amon watched Kaneki stare up at the vent in curiosity at first and then concern. He turned his attention to the time display.

"Did the cameras freeze?"He asked.

"There's no record of any malfunctions in the logs. You know how careful they are with the holding cell footage, everything's running like clockwork over there. Someone would've had to know about it."

"So someone was messing with the camera?"

"I think so. We can have our tech team take a look, but I see no reason for this logically. It's odd. Another day or so later, he starts sleeping from ten to thirteen hours and when he is up,he doesn't seem like he's doing too good. Then he seems to be in pain. It gets progressively worse from there, but then I noticed a weird glitch in the system, While Eyepatch is sleeping there's a quick second when you do see the door open. No one should've been there and certainly not in the cell with him. Again nothing on the hallway camera and inside, it looks like something's been removed. It's a pretty bad editing job actually. It happens again the night before you go in to let him out. I think it's time I had another talk with Shiro."

"You think he-"

"No. But I think he might be able to help us find the information we need. Someone knows what happened."

"Do me a favor, call medical immediately, tell them to pull team A and be ready to take in a patient."

Amon took out his phone, standing from his chair, while Akira did as he asked.

Amonn quickly scrolled through the phone, stopping at the number and pressed the call button, holding the device to his ear as it rang.

"Hello?"the male answered, clearly upset.

"Nagachika, listen to me very carefully. I think we found something but I don't know what it is exactly. I'm on my way over, we need to talk."


	8. Chapter 8

Amon made his way to the front door of the house, he raised his hand to knock but paused when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He removed the object, looking down at the display to find a message.

_There's a key in the little electrical box on the left of the door. When you get inside, you'll have to go through the living room and down a short hallway. The door's open a little. Try to keep it down when you get in here._

Amon turned to his left, finding the hiding place and wasted no time in removing the key and letting himself into the house. Inside was eerily quiet, aside from a muffled female voice coming from the direction Hide had instructed him to take. He cautiously made his way through the interior of the house. He wasn't sure what to expect and in an effort to keep the peace, he opted to leave his quinque in his car. When at last he came to the door which was slightly ajar, he paused.

"Nagachika?" He called.

"You can come in." Hide replied almost immediately. Amon entered slowly, finding the room dimly lit, the woman's voice continued from inside and the ghoul lay in bed on his side, facing away from the door with Hide sitting next to the bed. He watched the younger man place what looked like a photo album on the bedside table.

"Hey Amon," Hide greeted, making an attempt at a smile, though tears were visible in his eyes.

"How's Eyepatch?"

"Not good. H-He-I can't fix this. I've always been able to do something to help him and the one time he really needs me-I had so many opportunities and I-"

"You're right there beside him, that's more important than you realize. We all have regrets in life, we don't always see those opportunities until we're looking back at the situation. I can't make any promises, but I need the two of you to come back with me. We reviewed the surveillance footage and it looks like something may have been going on. Sections of it were deleted and no one seems to remember any visitors coming or going. I don't know what happened exactly, but I have a medical team on standby that-"

"If it happened in your facility, under your watch, however unintentional it was, how am I supposed to trust that he'll be safe?"

"You'll just have to trust me. Despite what you may believe, not all of us are entirely against ghouls. Some have dedicated themselves to research and development in favor of the ghouls, wanting to build a bridge-"

"Research and development, you want me to hand him over to you so he can be your science experiment, hasn't Kaneki been through enough?"

"That's not what I mean. I'm not here to hurt him. I think there could be a chance to help him. We 'll take him there and run a few tests, I'm not even going to put him in a holding cell. He'll stay in the medical facility. When you took him into your custody, you signed papers taking responsibility for him,you can choose what they do as far as testing and treatments. You two have control of this, I'll even arrange for you to stay with him." Hide dried his eyes, turning to look at Kaneki's pale face. Amon moved closer, wanting to get a better look at the ghoul.

"He's not going to hurt you." Hide said. "Kaneki's not like that and even if he wanted to, he can barely open his eyes. I guess that part's kind of my fault. He was in so much pain after the first dose of medicine wore off I gave him a little more, a smaller one. I can't give him anymore though. I'm not sure I trust this medical team you're talking about, but I know I don't really have a choice. I have to do something. Can you promise me they're not going to treat him like an experiment and intentionally hurt him?"

"Yes. I'll explain everything on the way. You're going to want to bring whatever you're giving him so they know." Hide hesitated only a moment before standing up.

"Do you mind just standing here with him, just to kind of make sure he's still breathing while i'm getting a couple things, it won't take long. He'll probably just sleep.""

"We'll be fine."The investigator assured. Hide hurried from the room, Amon gazed down at Kaneki. He noticed the ghoul's breathing was slow and shallow, seemingly pausing for only a second or two every few breaths. He reached toward Kaneki , lightly pressing his hand to his head.

"You've got a hell of a fever,Eyepatch ." He commented Kaneki slowly opened his eyes as the investigator removed his hand. Amon sat down beside the bed.

"Your friend will be back in a minute" Amon explained, "He told me you were really sick but I didn't think-"

"Hide can find something good in pretty much anything," Kaneki's voice was strained and weak. "If he tells you it's bad, it is."unable to fight against the fatigue, he closed his eyes once again.

"He said you've been in a lot of pain, are you feeling any right now?"

" Hide gave me something that made it stop, makes me sleep. Are you taking me back t-"

"No. we were talking about taking you to someone who might know how to help you." Hide said before Amon could reply. The older man took a step back, giving the blond room to kneel beside the bed. "I need you to let us try this. I know I said just one more thing before with the medicine, but I-"

"Please don't."Kaneki pleaded. "It's better if-"

"Better for who, Kaneki?"Hide interrupted. "Do you think any of us would really be better off?"

"Y-yes."

"You should know better than that. If that was true, why was I there the night of the raid, why would I have tried to find you?"

"Loving someone doesn't make them good for you."Hide sighed heavily.

"Kaneki,I've loved you practically my whole life. I've been there when you were going through everything, I was with you when you were sick all these years, I've been everything you needed me to be, because you're precious to me. I love you so much I was and will always be there no matter what happens. There's literally nothing you could say or do that would make me stop loving you, I'd die for you."

"Y-You almost did."Kaneki looked up into Hide's eyes which were filled with tears.

"And I'd do it all over again. But how often have I asked you for anything?"

"You don't." the ghoul replied.

"I'm asking now. I love you so much,I'd give everything for you, If I'd die for you, can't you at least try to live for me?"

"Hide-"

"Please?"Kaneki didn't have the strength to argue, instead he resigned himself to what was about to happen.

"Thank you." Hide said softly, pressing his lips to the ghoul's head."I promise you, we're going to make something better and we'll do it together,but you have to hang in there with me a little longer."

"Did you get it?"Amon asked.

"Yeah. I just need one more thing." Hide made his way over to his dresser, pulling open the top drawer, rummaging through the contents before removing a CD and placing it in his pocket.

Amon stood up.

"Do you want me to help you with him?" Hide shook his head.

"No. I got him, but if you can get the door, that would really help."Hide slipped one hand behind Kaneki's neck and the other behind his knees, pulling him close to rest against him.

"I've got you." he promised. Kaneki remained motionless as Hide walked through the house toward the front door. A deep sadness filled his heart when he glanced down at the pale ghoul in his arms. "Is this what it was like for you?"He wondered out loud, nuzzling his friend lovingly.

Once they had reached the car, Hide carefully placed Kaneki inside, laying him down gently. and slid into the seat next to him. Amon started the engine and began to drive toward their destination.

"I want to know about this team you have waiting."Hide insisted.

"Eri runs the team, which she hand picked very carefully. She's tough but she's got a good heart. She's one of the best in the medical field as far as I'm concerned. To her, Ghouls aren't the vicious monsters most of the world thinks they are,to her, they're just doing the only thing they can to survive. Until recently, I wasn't able to see them that way myself. You know how I felt about them."

"And suddenly you just changed your mind?"

"No. I'm not completely ready to change that view, but I can see there's more to it than that. That's something we can get into later. Eri's second in command is Midori. Both have a passion for medicine and ghoul rights. I don't know very much about River, Rain or Minako but Eri always looks for people who share her idea that not every ghoul is a monster. I'd trust them with my own life."

"Yeah? Would you trust them with someone you love more than that?"Hide asked.

"I would. They take their jobs seriously. He'll be in good hands. I would entrust my partner's life to them without hesitation." It didn't take long for them to arrive, finding the team already waiting as they pulled up.

A dark haired woman who appeared to be just around Hide's age stepped forward, giving instructions to the others. Hide helped to get Kaneki out of the car and onto the stretcher.

""This is really him?" She asked,as they hurried toward the building.

"Yeah, this is Eyepatch."Amon confirmed. "Think you can handle this?"

"We'll do what we can. From the look of it, there isn't much of a choice. Rain, I want the monitors on him immediately, get me vitals and Minako you're on respiratory." She turned to Hide.

"I'm guessing you're a friend of his." She said as they passed through the automatic doors. "What can you tell me?" Hide pulled the bottle of pills from his pocket.

"He's been pretty sick, not sure exactly how long. Fevers, has a lot of pain pretty much constantly,weak and tired, he throws up blood..It got to a point he was hurting so much I gave him one of these and it helped."He offered the bottle to the woman who read the label carefully. "He had another one earlier this morning. It took a while to wear off." She nodded.

"That was a good call. Unfortunately for him, for us to treat him, he'll need to be aware of what's going on so he can describe his symptoms. It's easy to for lack of better words, reverse the effects of the medication. River, I need you on that," The young woman gave a short nod.

"I'm on it."She said rushing ahead of them"

"Sorry, what was your name?"the doctor inquired, the group hurried through a set of double doors into what appeared to be an examination room.

"Hide."The blond replied, watching them begin attaching the monitors to his friend.

"Call me Eri."She replied. "I know this is hard for you, I promise we'll do everything we can to figure this out. I'm going to ask you to stay out here. We'll also need him to be calm, once we've given him the medicine, we'll invite you in to help us calm him. Until then, please be patient." She lightly touched Hide's shoulder before disappearing into the room and closing the door, Hide turned his attention to the large window, watching the team.

"Come on, Kaneki." He said softly. "I need you here, I love you."


End file.
